Sanaullah Khan Mohammed, an Indian Muslim man who entered the United States on a tourist visa in 2016 and overstayed his visa, then sought asylum on the grounds of persecution in India but was denied by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit because a judge found his application had no merit. They also ruled that Muhammad was not exempt from deportation because India was a large country and he could be sent back to any other part of India.
Who is Sanura Khan Muhammad ?
According to court documents, Muhammad said his family used to run a slaughterhouse business, which led to tensions. Around May 2016, he claimed that a group of people “confronted him and his mother, threw rocks at him and then beat him while warning them to close the slaughterhouse”. Mohammed said local police intervened and dispersed the group. The attack left Mohammed slightly injured.About a month later, Muhammad entered the United States on a visitor visa that was valid beyond December 25, 2016, and did not apply for asylum until January 28, 2019.USCIS denied the asylum application because it was not submitted by the deadline. The case went before an immigration judge, who also dismissed the case, saying Muhammad “has shown neither past persecution nor a meaningful risk of future persecution.” Mohammed called for a review.The court noted that it did not have jurisdiction to review the immigration judge’s order that the asylum application was untimely, but on the “withhold of removal” issue that Mohammad should not be deported to India, the court said it did not find any reason not to deport Mohammad to India.
The court noted that local police stopped the attack
According to Mohammed, the court said local police actually prevented the 2016 attack. Mohammad also failed to prove that “the Indian government condoned the violence.” The bumps, scrapes and bruises that Muhammad received during the incident do not lead to the conclusion that he was persecuted in India.“Mohammed’s challenge is even weaker because his family’s local slaughterhouse business, which sparked past violence, is no longer in operation,” the court said. “What’s more, Mohammed can live elsewhere in India’s vast country.”
